Hiatal hernia and pulmonary function impairment: incidence or coincidence?

The high incidence of respiratory symptoms in patients with reflux esophagitis reported in the literature supports a cause-effect relationship between esophageal reflux and pulmonary symptoms. Analysis of the results of routine preoperative pulmonary function tests on 90 patients with reflux esophagitis and on 277 patients having nonthoracic elective surgery revealed that although the incidence of obstructive lung disease was high in both groups, it was higher in the general surgical population (51.9%) than in the patients with reflux esophagitis (37.7%). Thus a cause-and-effect relationship cannot be established between reflux esophagitis and obstructive lung impairment. This study indicates that the incidence of significant obstructive lung impairment in the general surgical population is greatly underestimated.